New email day....

Hey! Didn't have time to read the email, but i will thursday!

Here's a quick run down:

Pday is monday, but we're emailing this thursday because Halloween is our Pday this week (but it will be on Mondays from now on)

I'm doing great! Loving the mission and my comps are awesome! I'm in Toole right now and am here for the foreseeable future! 

Love you!

Elder Sanderson

Heavenly Father sent me a text message

*******This whole post is from me -Tara- none of it was from HD but it is relevant to his mission.  Read to see why. *******

You probably read that title and thought "ummmm....yeah this nut has def cracked!"  While the cracked part may be  true so is the text message part!  Here is the story....

So Tuesday HD left the MTC and headed out into the big wide world of the mission field he was temporarily reassigned to the crazy town of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Not kidding. When I saw his email last week stating he had been called to SLC I just couldn't quite believe it...our whole family lives there.  HD was born there....he just spent a year of his life just south of there in Provo.  How is that where he is supposed to be? These along with other things were amoung the thoughts I had.  Then I realized that Heavenly Father knows all of that stuff. He knows who lives there, where HD was born and where he went to college.  I also read a great talk by elder Ronald A Rasband about how missionaries are assigned.  So I felt better.  Mostly. Peaceful. Mostly. I was still trying to get used to the idea but I know that he was supposed to be there. Tuesday came and I expected to hear from his mission president (each mission has a president they are always married and they watch over the missionaries in that mission sort of like a mom and dad for the missionaries) most people get a picture and an email from the mission president once the missionaries arrive.  I was 100% fully expecting to hear something. So Tuesday I waited.....nada....Wednesday I waited.... I checked my email every five minutes all day and NADA!  I was so anxious to hear something.  I wasn't really worried that he made it or that HD was ok I know he is under the protection of The Lord but still why wouldn't the mission pres. Email me? All of last evening I went downhill I was so sad, just missing my kiddo and feeling really disconnected.  I cried and went I bed early.  I woke up at 2:30 feeling really sick I ended up getting up and coming downstairs to search for something that would help me NOT toss my cookies and I checked my phone to see what time it was.  Imagine my surprise when I saw a text that read....

"Hi! This is ......[not posting her name for privacy reasons] We had the privilege of feeding your son and his 2 other companions tonight. Elder Jacobs and Elder Shoaf. Your Elder arrived here [......,Utah] just today (maybe it was last night) while waiting for his visa, but I am sure you probably know that already. If not, now you do. ;) He was a joy to have in our home! So excited and willing to serve and some great stories. ♥ He was ecstatic  that I asked for your information to send photos and info. He wanted me to let you know this was his first meal with a family out in the field and he is doing well. ♡ I asked if it was too late to send this text, but he said with excitement, "You can send it tonight! " I sent them home with lots of leftovers and some other extra stuff. The Elders are helping me with my sharing time in primary this Sunday. I am going to try to snap some more pics then. ;) I will text and/or email them to you. Let me know if you don't get 2 pics on this text and/or pics in your email Sunday. So that you can watch for my email it's purplejenn@msn.com. And PLEASE, please don't hesitate to ask me if you need me to get and/or do anything for him. (Or your family) It would be my pleasure. :) Thanks for sharing such a wonderful young man! ♡ My family and I appreciate it."

This is not typical! Members rarely contact the missionary's family. So there you have it. Message. From. Heaven. That sweet lady was an answer to my prayers.  Such a profound moment where I was reminded once again that my Heavenly Father is aware of me.  That He LOVES me.  I actually told Joe when he called to say hi "Heavenly Father LOVES ME!" He said he was happy about that lol -friends just want you to know that I know for sure that Heavenly Father loves us and cares about us.  He is always aware when we are hurting and while the comfort doesn't always come immediately never doubt for a second that He is there!  Amazing my friends. Simply amazing.  Here are the two pics she sent 

Letter and temporary reassignment

Hey mom,

Got your email about matt's dad, sorry to hear that and they are definitely
in my prayers!

I got my reassignment yesterday!!!! I will be serving in the Utah Salt Lake
City mission! So excited!!! I leave the MTC on Tuesday, but probably won't
get to call home because we are taking the train and won't have to be at
the airport. I haven't heard much about my mission, but I've heard rumors
that we get to spend A LOT of time at Temple Square! That would be so
freaking cool!!!! There is one other Elder in my district going with me.
The rest are like this: 5 to CA, 1 to FL, AZ, PA, VA, and ID! We cannot
wait and everyone is so excited!

We also got to talk to a teacher at the MTC who just got back from Manaus 6
months ago! This mission is going to be hard lol Here's some of what he
told us:
Manaus is the hottest mission in the world. President Klein LOVES the rules
and will push you harder than you've ever been pushed in your life. Your shoes will melt (not sure if i believe that part) and you spend most of your time in Manaus. You also go to the temple a lot! President Klein loves for us to go to the
temple as often as possible! They also said we will probably teach anywhere
from 60-80 lessons a week! Most of them with members present! You do not
knock on doors, President Klein thinks it is a waste of time, but you go
and the members will give you all the investigators you need.

Everything else is great! It was such a cool devotional on Tuesday! Elder
Oaks was here! We got to sing Praise to the Man for the choir number and it
was the same one they did in Conference when David Archuleta was there,
such a cool version! My ankle is doing great, I got cleared to play on
Monday and it hasn't hurt unless my weight comes down on it really hard.

Another cool thing from last week's Sunday film (after devotional on Sunday
we get to go to a film, usually a General Authority talk or a church video
of some kind) and Elder Pixton went to one by Elder Holland! A few things I
really liked were this:

Don't say your mission is hard, all missions are hard. One of the reasons I
think that this is hard is because the Savior's mission was hard. How could
we call ourselves His soldiers and not expect to feel some of that same
burden?

Another thing he shared was this poem:

Come to the edge, I cannot I will fall

Come to the edge, I cannot I will fall

Come to the edge, I went to the edge...

You pushed me and I flew.

Elder Holland said that missionaries need to stop hiding in the bushes when
they see another pastor or when something hard comes along. He said to go
to the edge, get pushed, and fly. Go to where missionaries find their
purpose, where prophets walk, and where the Savior resides.

I feel the Spirit so strongly when I read these notes! There is a fire
inside of me that will burn for the rest of my life because of this mission
and because of the desire I have for everyone to have what I've been
blessed with. This Church is true, the Prophet Joseph Smith was the second
greatest man to ever walk on this earth. He restored the fullness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Earth. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God.
Heavenly Father loves us all and wants the best for us. I know that the
only way we can gain Salvation is through the gate that is baptism by the
proper authority and that that authority has been restored to the Earth.
The message is simple, but the most important one you will ever hear in
your life.

Eu amo voces!

Elder Sanderson

email today :)

Hey mom =)

This week has been great! Listening to General Conference with missionary ears is probably the most spiritual things I've ever done in my life! The Spirit was so strong and the whole Saturday session seemed to be aimed at missionaries! =) We all had devotional afterwards with our districts and we all agreed that Conference was AMAZING! Even just when they mention missionaries in the prayers, you can feel the Spirit running through your entire body! So cool to hear about Joe, so lame to hear about the Elders. I'm tempted to send them an email through you, but it's not my place to judge.

My ankle is doing great! I've been rehabbing for the past two days, so it's been sore, but otherwise great! I can walk just fine and have been off crutches since Sunday. Heavenly Father was just teaching me a lesson, not putting me out of commission =D Portuguese is still hard, but nothing I can't handle (I might be Elder on the outside, but still HD on the inside). We get better and better every day. We have memorized all of this in Portuguese: Our Purpose, The First Vision, Moroni 10:5, James 1:5, and the Baptismal Prayer. Our teachers are awesome and really inspirational! 

Being Zone Leader is fun! We have 3 meetings this Sunday, and are going to get to do orientation for two new districts this Wed! Our District also got to be Hosts this week. Basically, that means we get to escort the new missionaries to get their supplies, see their room, and take them to class once they get dropped off. I was a traffic director which was really fun! We just helped keep the chaos down and i got to wear an amazing bright orange vest lol.

Yes, I got the pants and am good to go for the yellow fever! Great to hear from you all!

Love you, tell everyone I said hi and that the Church is still true!

Elder Sanderson

Ps: I am singing in the MTC choir (have been since we got here) but this week is going to be awesome! A General Authority, pretty sure one of the 12, is coming here on Tuesday for devotional! The entire devotional will be played at every MTC in the world! So cool! And the choir gets to sing Praise to the Man! 

Love you,

Elder Sanderson

An email and some pictures

Week has been a very interesting one! We lost one of our teachers because of scheduling so now we have a new teacher and have lost the only female prescence we had at the MTC lol but our new teacher is really cool! He speaks very eloquently which makes it waaaaay easier to understand him! We have got most of the lessons down in Portuguese so when we get questions from our investigators that are outside of our lesson plan we can usually make the transition pretty easily! We were teaching Prayer, Faith, and the Holy Ghost the other day, but then he asked who Joseph Smith was so we completely abandoned our lesson and taught the Restoration instead! 

I'm so sorry to hear about Matt's dad =( i will definitely say some prayers for them! Mione sent me a really cool postcard the other day so tell her I said thank you!!! 

I'm not sick anymore, but I am on crutches. Don't freak out! I just sprained my ankle playing soccer on Wednesday, but it is already getting better! I was chasing a ball down but we aren't allowed to wear cleates and my foot slipped out from under me. I rolled over the top of it and heard it pop twice. When I couldn't stand up, I had two Elders in my District help me to the Medical Center to have it checked out. They said i probably sprained two of the 3 ligaments on the outside of my left foot. I received a blessing from my companion and roommates that night and I have 100% faith that I will recover in no time! I can already walk on it a little bit which they say is amazing!

In other news, Elder Pixton and I got assigned as Zone Leaders! That means that we are in charge of all the districts in our branch, right now that's only two, but we are hoping to get more Elders this coming week! It's prety cool and we are looking forward to it! 

I don't need anything, but it's getting cold here. If you send a box please send me a sweater! If you're not sending a box then don't worry about it! It's not that bad and we only go outside for a little bit during the day!

****Tara here :) this next paragraph is in reference to what I wrote him about Sarah's letter to me****

Of course I have this on lock down! I'm HD remember? =p I'm really glad you guys talk because her family hasn't said a word to me haha

Love you guys, tell everyone i said hi and that they are in my prayers!

Elder Sanderson

His district with his last Portuguese teacher Sister Dangerfield

Him on crutches. 

The Provo temple

His name tag with the temple

His and Sarah's name tags together.  Lol he is a goof.  Dang he loves that girl.  :)